2018 JLU Warning - Clutch Fire Burns Down Vehicle

[siggy]

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

No it’s not. You need to stop driveling. Spewing stuff like operator error and to saying Jeep offered a solution with the automatic transmission, is just garbage talk. As stated, a clutch should just ultimately give out, not catch on fire. People have been driving on slipping clutches for decades. Do you feel better about knocking someone down when they’ve had an unfortunate incident happen?

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[SadRobot]

Wow this is terrible. Glad you are ok. I had been holding off on replacing my clutch but this kind of puts this at a priority for me.

Hope you get Jeep to pay up. What a mess.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

Fortunately, corporations are held to a higher standard than that perspective. Otherwise, there wouldn't be seat belts, safety glass, air bags, crush structure, drop down O2 masks, 9G airplane seats/structures, flame retardant aircraft interiors, escape slides, life vests, rafts, padded dashboards, etc..

 

[ORV1]

Although I didn’t experience the same issues you did, which was severe in your case, my experience with @JeepCares was deplorable.
I too am a life long Jeep owner. CJ5, 7, TJ, JK.
I was also “hurt” by the fact that an enthusiast marque could give two sh!@s about their customers, especially the ones that were their biggest supporters.
Very frustrating.
Sorry to see this.

 

[Traveller128]

Most of us gearheads that have lived through the pre-electronic era, are very familiar with clutches slipping and failing. But in all my years, I don't recall one clutch failure any non-racing vehicle which resulted in a fire, let alone an all consuming fire. Those old cars just slipped and slipped until they stopped moving. Yet the JL is very consistent in this failure with subsequent totally consuming fire.

Why? I believe it's the plastic fuel line that is easily breached from the clutch explosion, with hot catalytic converter and clutch parts igniting the gasoline, and feeds the fire with gasoline until the tank contents are consumed. It's a negligent design, in my opinion.

Absolutely. One of the first things to know in designing a clutch, is how to keep it from scattering itself. They haven't done that. I've never seen a clutch scatter and shatter a bellhousing in a non-race car situation prior to these. And the race car stuff that I've seen break, did so in a manner that resulted in a noise and the car not moving, no fire.

 

[UtahDirt]

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

Happy now? Got to blame the OP, doubled down, shared your vast knowledge, contributed absolutely nothing, and are that guy. Nice flex on the internet

 

[OrneryBear]

Clutch slipping/failure then fire is serious, most likely a recall issue, whoever manages recalls needs notified.

LOL they know, there is a recall already, the third on this issue in fact, OP hadn't gotten the 3rd recall repair performed yet.

 

[gdeyarmond]

Well, not driving a vehicle with a slipping clutch is Manual Transmission 101 stuff. It's like riding your brakes everywhere you go then blaming the manufacturer when they fail and catch fire. I agree the JL manual trans is rather sub-par but that's just all the more reason to not drive it with a slipping clutch. The lifespan of a manual trans is VERY dependent upon the driver.

Jeep is addressing the issue with a very good automatic transmission that will not drive itself into a flaming meltdown.

Most people still tracking down, ordering, driving, and enjoying their manual transmission in today's appliance vehicle climate would not drive an automatic unless there was no option.... with Jeep making it a 2500-4500 option depending on the engine configuration, that's a solid NO. The transmission with a non-self-destructing clutch is fine, even with a bad/slipping clutch, for reference I drove about 1000 miles with a badly slipping clutch in my Acura, gave in to getting a new clutch, and then it drove and shifted fine after the swap. The problem is not the transmission.

No manual driver wants that great automatic. It's just the cost of "doing business" to need to swap in a reputable non Fiat clutch as soon as our Willy's shows signs of going...maybe it will keep going for 100k + miles which is a reasonable amount for the life of a clutch, but surely I'm not wasting 2500-4500 on an automatic transmission.....I'll waste that on a clutch.

 

[DanW]

Hi all, posting both as a warning to users, an attempt to see if anyone has a suggestion on a path forward, and an attempt to get further communication from Jeep as several others have failed.

On Sat May 18th, my 2018 JLU with approx 64K caught fire as the clutch overheated at 80mph on I-90 in Montana, failed, splintered throwing flaming fluid on the freeway, and was consumed by flames within 20 minutes (see awesome picture I got).

It received the first two recalls long ago; I got regular service appointments including one a month prior where they said they still couldn't fix the 3rd one. Finally, I was contacted on the 15th and told they could get me in for the third as soon as the 28th. In between, I had a work trip from Denver to Montana.

It went from acting perfectly fine, to a little of what in hindsight was clutch slipping, to being totally gone within 1,000 miles after a dealer service appointment checked it out.

(If anyone has questions on the exact steps and sensations in the vehicle that led up to this, I will explain further but that would take a few more paragraphs).

Geico eventually settled payout at estimated value, but my attempts to make a connection with someone on this issue at Jeep - even to get to a 'real human', have failed. I am out more than this - some $3k in work and camping equipment, plus costs of getting home, lost wages from a job the next day.. not to mention getting panic attacks for the first time in my life and going in for an EKG (and as a large event manager, who is trained to remain calm under stress!) Lastly, I purchased several insurance packages and service packages (i.e. basic services) that were reflected in my financing and remained unused. Intangibly, without a vehicle all this time, I've lost work and opportunity to take work as a contractor who drives to events.

The annoying part is I reached out to Jeep several times; every time they said someone would get in touch with me, they made a case # and a second case # - told me each times someone would reach out - they didn't. Said they mailed me on June 1st - I never received it. Then on my call on Monday, some random customer service told me that the case was closed without contacting me. They said the case manager was busy at the moment but would reach out as soon as possible - 2 days later, they haven't.

The only props I will give is to Blair with Jeep Social Media, who was actually helpful beyond random people in call centers telling me absolutely nothing.

How I see this - we all know Jeep made a shoddy clutch, and has been making patchwork jobs to limp through their responsibility to 'keep it safe'. I was reached with an opportunity to fix it 10 days too late. I nearly died, others nearly died, I lost a lot of money - money and value not replaced by the insurance claim - and the trauma is still with me.

What upsets me, though - is Jeep's completely shoddy attempt to make this right. I would like to give the benefit of the doubt and say that something slipped between the cracks, but I am finding it hard to believe that @JeepCares right now.

Maybe this is just venting and I should accept that Jeep will never attempt to do anything else to make this right, but I think they should. As someone who was raised in a Jeep family (literally, my parents and step-parents met at FCA headquarters and I spent my life in that circle) - this is extremely hurtful and traumatic to me to have this love for Jeep to be shattered. I would have been a life-long Jeep driver (albeit automatic) if FCA had responded in a respectable manner. Now myself, and all of the people in my circle who have loved and driven Jeeps and other FCA vehicles are questioning this.

GET THE RECALLS. TAKE THE BUYBACKS. DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU ARE GETTING CLUTCH SLIPPING. THIS IS REAL.

#jeepfire #jeepclutchfire @Jeep @JeepCares

Best,
Josh

Glad you are ok! Wow!

 

[Pchmotoho]

Sorry to hear about it. If you are seeking compensation I think it may be wise to not discuss this on social media. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

[InVinoVeritasty]

cc: @JeepCares

 

[jreed]

Sorry to hear about it. If you are seeking compensation I think it may be wise to not discuss this on social media. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

Thanks; if my first priority was compensation I would have contacted a lawyer 6 weeks ago. Jeep is welcome to respond however they wish to, but first and foremost I care that no one else has to go through what I have, or God forbid something worse that I narrowly escaped.

If tomorrow or in a year a lawyer or Jeep says "you could have got money but you posted X on this forum", I'll hurt for a second then shrug and say "well maybe I saved someone and their Jeep".

 

[sherpaJL]

not again! how many dashboard ducks got roasted?
I don't see any in your pile of belongings

 

[jreed]

not again! how many dashboard ducks got roasted?
I don't see any in your pile of belongings

Lol, Only 1, along with a little cat hanging from the mirror I had had for 20 years. Funny looking back on things I saved from it and didn't in the 5-10 minutes before the whole thing went up.

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